WaPo: Was Foley’s killer a former Gitmo detainee?

posted at 8:41 am on August 20, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

The British accent in the video that depicted the despicable and cowardly murder of an American journalist has raised concerns in the UK about the background of the ISIS jihadist. The Washington Post’s report on the butchery includes this nugget that should have Americans thinking twice, too:

In an interview with the BBC, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond acknowledged that the apparent executioner spoke with a British accent and said the video seemed to be genuine.

Hundreds of Britons are believed to have traveled to Syria to fight in the country’s civil war, including many who have joined the Islamic State.

“We’re absolutely aware that there are significant numbers of British nationals involved in terrible crimes, probably in the commission of atrocities,” Hammond said. “Many of these people may seek at some point to return to the U.K., and they would then pose a direct threat to our domestic security.”

A European intelligence official said the British government was examining the video, and the speech of the purported executioner, to compare it with former Guantanamo Bay prisoners and other British residents believed to have joined the Islamic State.

The May 2004 Berg killing was conducted by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Tawhid wal-Jihad at the beginning of the 2003 Iraq war, which became al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) at around the time of that beheading. US forces killed Zarqawi in an American airstrike, but AQI survived his death and the Anbar Awakening (if barely) to morph into ISIS when the US pulled out of Iraq. Berg was not the only American beheaded by Zarqawi, either; he also killed Owen Eugene Armstrong later in the same year, and both Berg and Armstrong wore orange jumpsuits when murdered, as did James Foley.

The orange jumpsuits are obviously referencing Guantanamo Bay, but the British seem concerned that there’s more than just symbolism now in play with ISIS. The US began releasing British subjects from Gitmo during the Bush administration under international pressure to shut down the facility, as well as releasing other detainees to their home countries, all of whom pledged to ensure that they would not return to the fight. We’ve seen plenty of recidivism since then, and all to this same end — to rejoin the jihad against the West and the nations in this region, and to recruit others to do the same.

It won’t be a surprise if the jihadist turns out to be a former Gitmo detainee, but it is a bit of a surprise that the UK doesn’t keep a close enough watch on those former detainees to account for their whereabouts immediately. After all, they have already been identified as threats, picked up in the battle zones far from home, which is how they ended up in Gitmo in the first place. The bigger worry for the UK — and for the US and other Western nations — will be how many of these butchers will make it back home undetected and anonymous. It should also have us taking great care not to release those who still present a danger, especially since we’re now desperately looking for ways to roll back ISIS. Perhaps we shouldn’t provide them more fighters than they already have.

Blowback

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The US began releasing British subjects from Gitmo during the Bush administration under international pressure to shut down the facility, as well as releasing other detainees to their home countries, all of whom pledged to ensure that they would not return to the fight.

It’s a good thing we have secure borders here in the US, otherwise I’d be a little worried that some of these guys might evade detection.

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Bee on August 20, 2014 at 8:49 AM

When an Iranian nuke is smuggled into the US via the southern border and used to destroy New York or Washington, I would NOT want to be counted amongst the open border crowd, US Chamber of Commerce, et all. It won’t be pretty for them…

It should also have us taking great care not to release those who still present a danger, especially since we’re now desperately looking for ways to roll back ISIS. Perhaps we shouldn’t provide them more fighters than they already have.

How do you close Gitmo if you shut off the mechanism to trade with the terrorists?

I’m waiting for the day one of those detainees swapped for Bergdahl is the one doing the beheading.

When an Iranian nuke is smuggled into the US via the southern border and used to destroy New York or Washington, I would NOT want to be counted amongst the open border crowd, US Chamber of Commerce, et all. It won’t be pretty for them…

ConstantineXI on August 20, 2014 at 8:52 AM

There will be on the order of ten or twelve I Iranian nukes brought into major metro areas of U.S. Cities via ‘suitcases’.

There will be a timed detonation, a la Sept. 11, 2001, and voila!! No more U.S. of A.

Chances are good that most are already here and in place, as well. Just waiting for the order to execute…

When an Iranian nuke is smuggled into the US via the southern border and used to destroy New York or Washington, I would NOT want to be counted amongst the open border crowd, US Chamber of Commerce, et all. It won’t be pretty for them…

ConstantineXI on August 20, 2014 at 8:52 AM

Quite frankly, if a semi-truck, operated by ISIS carrying a nuke stopped and they asked me for directions to Washington DC, I would give them a detailed map and program it into their GPS.

Why mess with nookyalers when the mobile variety of conventional bombs is readily available with material you can buy at the local Fleet Supply store.

Or have 50 guys wearing 50 bomb vests walk into 50 fast food joints across the nation and detonate during the lunch-rush, right there you would see the collapse of how much of the economy as every fast food restaurant in America instantly loses every single customer.

What they do have is enough radioactive material (mostly waste) to create dirty bombs that irradiate an area and make people very, very sick. Not to mention rendering the are uninhabitable.

Conservative Mischief on August 20, 2014 at 9:15 AM

And by making it uninhabitable, it would cripple the oil refinery system, shut down the power grid, freeze the food supply chain, contaminate the water supply and delivery system and put the American people in a state of utter panic, resulting in anarchy and massive acts of looting, home invasion and the like.

You cannot win a war until you know who your enemy is. Fighting terrorists is like cutting off cancerous fingers one at a time. We have to go after the engine that manufactures terrorists like computers coming off an assembly line. That engine is the Muslim faith itself. This must be destroyed as Rome destroyed Carthage.

Has anybody in the Western media or government figured out yet that Muslim extremists are palying for keeps? That they really mean it when they say their goal is to anihilate all infidels? That their religion as they interpret it is incompatible with Western society?

The US is pretty big. They would likely just hit the coasts, NYC, Boston, DC, etc.

Flyover country would probably be fine.

talkingpoints on August 20, 2014 at 9:44 AM

Detroit has a huge Muslim population and is a border city. The Southern border is virtually unprotected thanks to Obama. It is delusional to think that Houston, Dallas, Denver, or Chicago is somehow safer than NYC.

I’m not sure I buy this theory. If a former detainee had executed the American, the ISIL would want to brag about it. Even with their focus on extreme secrecy, the embarrassment this would cause the US and UK would make it too good to resist.

No one really is sure if any of the Al Baghdadi guys we caught is actually the one leading IS atm.

HondaV65 on August 20, 2014 at 11:10 AM

This is the DOD’s statement on the issue:
“Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Al Badry, also known as ‘Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’ was held as a ‘civilian internee’ by U.S. Forces-Iraq from early February 2004 until early December 2004, when he was released,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “He was held at Camp Bucca. A Combined Review and Release Board recommended ‘unconditional release’ of this detainee and he was released from U.S. custody shortly thereafter. We have no record of him being held at any other time.”http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jun/19/jeanine-pirro/foxs-pirro-obama-set-isis-leader-free-2009/

I know this isn’t an important point but just because the guy had an English accent doesn’t necessarily mean he’s English or even been in England. It just means his English teacher was from England. I’ve talked to Germans and you can tell whether their English teacher was British or American.

Oh stop, this is the War on Terror, not The Islamic War, silly. Keep that up and they’ll hate us more. Akzed on August 20, 2014 at 9:18 AM

They already hate us, as you just indicated. Who cares if they hate us more, if they already hate us some? And I still disagree with you. I believe we are at war with Islam. bimmcorp on August 20, 2014 at 9:34 AM

I know this isn’t an important point but just because the guy had an English accent doesn’t necessarily mean he’s English or even been in England. It just means his English teacher was from England. I’ve talked to Germans and you can tell whether their English teacher was British or American.

crankyoldlady on August 20, 2014 at 12:43 PM

I read somewhere else that NSA/CIA and the Brits are analyzing his accent and have settled on “South” or “South London”. This is one thing they are pretty good at.

Muslims lay low only until they reach a population size that enables them to dominate others. That’s been Islam’s method of behavior throughout history, there should be no need to belabor the acknowledgement of this covert method by Islam as to dominating others, or trying to.

The only NON-radical Muslims are those who are isolated or live among other populations in smaller numbers. Once joined by others, their numbers multiplied, Muslims — all of them — become radical.

My guess is the administration probably knows. Voice identification is conducted in real time now. If it is a released detainee, you won’t hear about it because it would blow the administration’s quick release program to smithereens.